Preparations!

It's been over six months since the January 12, 2010 magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti with its epicenter at Leogane, a town 25 km west of Port-Au-Prince. An estimated 230,000 people died, 300,000 people were injured, and over 1,000,000 people were left homeless as a result. Many of these injuried people have fractures, dislocations, and crush injuries; unfortunately, there are only 16 orthopaedic surgeons in all of Haiti and there was a great need for international cooperation to assist with orthopaedic care of these injurie Hatians. You've probably heard about all the well-publicized international efforts: the military personnel sent within days by 20 countries, the multiple international organizations (MSF, SIGN, PiH - check out the links above), the US$3.1 billion in pledges, the US$1.1 billion raised (of which, by the way, only about 2% has been released so far). However ,6 months after the earthquake, there is still an overwhelming amount of work left to be done in rebuilding the country' infrastructure as well as taking the opportunity to establish a nationwide system for orthopaedic care.

So to put a human face on this huge issue, this is a blog about 3 people doing a tiny bit to help out. Elizabeth Slauson, Thomas Slater, and I (Pat Yoon) are three friends who work at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, MN. We've been wanting to help out for a long time, and thanks to the generous support of friends, neighbors, and co-workers (you all know who you are - thanks!), we've had the opportunity to go down to Haiti and beome part of the relief effort.. Liz is a nurse (formerly the health unit coordinator for the ortho floor), Tom's the trauma implant coordinator (trained as a surgical tech specializing in ortho), and I'm an orthopaedic surgeon. We're only going for 9 days, which is nothing in comparison to what a lot of other people -both Haitian and foreign - have done. Hats off to fellow Minnesotans we know who've gone, among them Marc Swiontkowski, Daren and Jessica Wickum, Christina Ward, Matt Putnam, Quy Ton (fellow ultimate player!), Peter Melchert, Pat Ebeling and so many others!

We've spent the last several days ordering and packing up supplies - dressings, gloves, drills, batteries, screws, plates, iron pills, and infant formula, as well as getting all of our vaccinations up to date, and starting our malaria pills. Goodbyes to friends and family are important too! Above right you can see Tom packing up some old hockey bags with medical supplies outside the OR at HCMC. Our flight to Haiti (with a layover in Miami) leaves Minneapolis is in just a few hours, at 6:20 am. We're all nervous and excited.